Flowers and Grasses of the Four Seasons
In this lyrical variation of the common theme of Flowers and Birds of the Four Seasons, delicately rendered insects such as dragonflies, butterflies, and praying mantises hover among kerria roses, peonies, chrysanthemums, bush clover, and snow-dusted lantern flowers. Scallop-edged golden clouds and the graceful arcs of eulalia grasses form repeating, rhythmic patterns.
The treatment of pictorial elements is consistent with the gentle, elegant painting style of Kano Mitsunobu, whose works graced a number of Kyoto palaces and temples. Parallels can also be drawn to lacquer decoration at the mausoleum of warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto’s Kōdaiji Temple. The lacquered and maki-e–decorated panels, associated with the Kōami school of Kyoto lacquer artisans, display repeating autumn grasses resembling motifs in Mitsunobu’s paintings and this pair of screens.
The treatment of pictorial elements is consistent with the gentle, elegant painting style of Kano Mitsunobu, whose works graced a number of Kyoto palaces and temples. Parallels can also be drawn to lacquer decoration at the mausoleum of warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto’s Kōdaiji Temple. The lacquered and maki-e–decorated panels, associated with the Kōami school of Kyoto lacquer artisans, display repeating autumn grasses resembling motifs in Mitsunobu’s paintings and this pair of screens.
Artwork Details
- 四季花草図屏風
- Title: Flowers and Grasses of the Four Seasons
- Artist: Circle of Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信 (Japanese, 1565–1608)
- Period: Momoyama period (1573–1615)
- Date: late 16th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold paint, and gold leaf on paper
- Dimensions: Image (each): 59 15/16 in. × 11 ft. 7 7/16 in. (152.2 × 354.2 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.300.70.1, .2
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信
late 16th century
Japan
late 16th century
Sesson Shūkei 雪村周継
ca. 1570
Shikibu Terutada
mid-16th century
Uto Gyoshi
mid- to late 16th century
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